The volume offers the first large-scale study of the teaching of Descartes's philosophy in the early modern age. Its twenty chapters explore the clash between Descartes's "new" philosophy and the established pedagogical practices and institutional concerns, as well as the various strategies employed by Descartes's supporters in order to communicate his ideas to their students. The volume considers a vast array of topics, sources, and institutions, across the borders of countries and confessions, both within and without the university setting (public conferences, private tutorials, distance learning by letter) and enables us thereby to reconsider from a fresh perspective the history of early modern philosophy and education.

A masterly survey of the last 13 years of Very Long Baseline Interferometry, reviewed in light of the most advanced astronomical observations. Topics covered include: Nonthermal emission from extragalactic radio sources; Principles of synchrotron emission in relation to astrophysics; Theory of relativistic jets; Young, powerful radio sources and their evolution; Scintillation in extragalactic radio sources; Radio and optical interferometry; Radio polarimetry; Unified schemes; Deep fields; Tropospheric and ionospheric phase calibration; Supernovae; VLBI for geodesy and geodynamics.

The geodynamic evolution of the Mediterranean region has been often described as a puzzling problem' because of the complex space-time distribution of tectonic events. The gathering of new constraining information and frequent changes of data and ideas among the scientists working on this topic seems to be the most suitable approach to the above problem. This volume reports the most significant results of geological, geophysical, seismological, volcanological, paleomagnetic studies and the geodynamic syntheses presented, and discussed. Special attention is devoted to regions, such as the Aegean--Anatolian and central Mediterranean, which played a crucial role in the evolution of the whole Mediterranean area. A considerable improvement in the understanding of the post-Tortonian deformation pattern of the Tyrrhenian--Apennine system has been achieved by recent geological and geophysical investigations. The geodynamic implications of the data presently available might provide important insights into the evolution of continental collision zones, where shortening processes may also involve lateral extrusion of crustal wedges and consumption of continental-like lithosphere. The main uncertainties which still surround the relative motion between Africa and Eurasia in the Mediterranean region are also pointed out. The arguments reported in this volume are mainly addressed to research scientists and advanced students of the earth sciences. (abstract) This volume reports information about the evolutionary history and the present structural-tectonic setting of the Mediterranean region, which has been presented and discussed during a meeting on Recent Evolution and Seismicity of the Mediterranean Region', held in Erice (Italy) in September 1992. Recent results of geological, geophysical, seismological, volcanological and paleomagnetic studies are described. The geodynamic implications of the presently available data set might provide important insights into the evolution of continental collision zones, where shortening processes may also involve lateral extrusion of crustal wedges and consumption of continental-like lithosphere.

Cytokines are polypeptide mediators which act as communication signals among cells of the immune system as well as among other cells and tissues in the body. They are a heterogeneous and complex group and include interferons, tumor necrosis factor and chemokines. They play a key role in homeostasis and in host defense and are involved in such inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis as well as infectious diseases such as HIV infection and spetic shock. Modulation of the production and action of cytokines, as well as their exploitation of therapeutic agents has been the object of intense and competitive research. This book overviews the field of cytokine research and describes the various approaches that have been taken to develop the pharmacology of these novel mediators. The pharmacology of cytokines is an exploding area which is entering the clinical arena. The book in the framework of the immunobiology of cytokines, examines the interactions with the cytokine system of a variety of compounds ranging from simple synthetic chemicals to biotechnological products. In addition to examining individual agents and approaches, the book examines the pathophysiology of individual body systems and analyzes specific contexts for the pathophysiology of individual body systems and analyzes specific contexts for the pathophysiology of these mediators as well as pharmacological approaches for their control.

This book addresses a wide range of migration-related issues in the European context and examines the socioeconomic consequences of migratory flows throughout Europe, focusing on a number of emblematic European countries. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the tension between migrants and their integration processes in the receiving country, which is deeply influenced by the attitude of the local population and the different approach to highly and less skilled immigrants. The second part analyses the impact of migration on the economic structure of the receiving country, while the third part explores the varying degree of immigrants' socioeconomic integration in the country of destination. The book offers an essential interdisciplinary contribution to the issue of migration and provides readers with a better understanding of the effects that different forms of migration have had and will continue to exert on economic and social change in host countries. It also examines migration policy issues and builds on historical and empirical case studies with policy recommendations on labour market, integration and welfare policy issues. The book is addressed to a wide audience, including researchers, academics and students of economics, sociology, politics and history, as well as government/EU officials working on migration topics.

Billions of dollars are spent every year on research into targeted therapies for cancer. That's why it's more than ever crucial for the thousands of scientists working in the field to keep right up to date with the cutting edge. This fascinating collection of material goes a long way to helping them do so, featuring as it does contributions to a crucial international meeting in Italy. The meeting provided a forum for scientists and clinicians working in cancer drug discovery and therapy to share their opinions and experiences. The text here offers readers an overview of diverse approaches, ranging from drug discovery to cellular therapy. Overall, the book addresses the key question of whether ultimately targeted therapy in cancer will be a myth or a reality.

This Palgrave Pivot examines the essence of competence value in corporate and small business finance, offering empirical evidence to better understand financial practices within entrepreneurial settings. Mantovani suggests an innovative methodology to detect the financial value of entrepreneurial capabilities. He shows how the concept of competence value and T-ratio, its measurement tool, are necessary to arrange sound entrepreneurial finance deals. This book opens with an analysis of how entrepreneurial skills contribute to the economics of entrepreneurial business, and then provides a financial background to estimate the competence value even when the financial markets fail to do so. The book goes on to introduce the idea of an entrepreneurial life-cycle made of stages based on the transformation of human skills into competitive hallmarks. Applications across a large sample of companies and Mantovani's concluding suggestions about the financial practice make this book essential to both academics and executives.

This book addresses a wide range of migration-related issues in the European context and examines the socioeconomic consequences of migratory flows throughout Europe, focusing on a number of emblematic European countries. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the tension between migrants and their integration processes in the receiving country, which is deeply influenced by the attitude of the local population and the different approach to highly and less skilled immigrants. The second part analyses the impact of migration on the economic structure of the receiving country, while the third part explores the varying degree of immigrants' socioeconomic integration in the country of destination. The book offers an essential interdisciplinary contribution to the issue of migration and provides readers with a better understanding of the effects that different forms of migration have had and will continue to exert on economic and social change in host countries. It also examines migration policy issues and builds on historical and empirical case studies with policy recommendations on labour market, integration and welfare policy issues. The book is addressed to a wide audience, including researchers, academics and students of economics, sociology, politics and history, as well as government/EU officials working on migration topics.

In "Exploring Borders, " Giuseppe Mantovani highlights and explores the ways in which culture acts as framework organising our experience. He emphasises the differences across and between cultures and examines the depths to which these can go. He also analyses the functions of culture, including: mediation, meaning-making, and forming a repertory of values and principles. Finally, he considers some of the challenges raised by taking a cultural perspective and examines how these may be addressed in society.
This highly original and eminently readable narrative will be invaluable to scholars of psychology, media and cultural studies, and to all those fascinated by culture and eager to make the cultural dimension visible to all.

Macrophages are a key component of the innate immune system and play an integral role in host defense and homeostasis. On one hand, these cells contribute to host defence by triggering inflammation, displaying microbicidal/tumoricidal properties, regulating the activation of adaptive immunity and promoting resolution of inflammation. On the other hand, they contribute to essential trophic functions such as neural patterning, bone morphogenesis and ductal branching in mammary glands. Thus, macrophages are extremely versatile cells that can respond efficiently to tissue micro environmental cues by polarizing to distinct phenotypes, depending on the functions they need to perform. Indeed, functional diversity and plasticity are hallmarks of these cells.

Macrophages may also play a detrimental role. An overwhelming body of literature has indicated their crucial role in pathogenesis. The list includes sepsis, cancer, metabolic syndrome, immunodeficiency, auto-immune disease-virtually impacting every major pathology that we know. These observations have suggested macrophages and their related molecules as potential targets in therapeutic applications. Available evidence proclaims macrophages as a key player in homeostasis, host defense and disease. Crucial developments in the past few years call for a re-evaluation and update of our understanding of macrophages. The present book is an endeavour that attempts provide state-of-the art knowledge of these cells in health and disease.

Since 1992, Italy has been wracked by what has been dubbed a 'revolution,' the destruction of the First Republic, and the launching of the Second Republic. The five parties that once governed Italy are gone; the leaders who guided Italy for forty years stand accused of corruption, many languishing in jail or exile; and numbers of politicians and businessmen committed suicide. All these dramatic events stemmed from the exposure of massive political corruption by a small group of Milan magistrates who became national heroes. Yet this controversial book argues instead that the actions of this group amounted to a coup d'etat, conceived by radicalized magistrates in the 1970s and carried out in the 1990s by these same magistrates for explicit political ends that were ultimately achieved in 1996. The authors examine the sources of the magistrates' political support and protection, the intended beneficiaries of their campaign, and their skillful management of the media. Along the way, they trace the magistrates' violation of the norms of due process and defendants' rights and the preferential treatment given to political and business allies. Indeed, the 'revolution' is becoming suspect to more and more Italians, and now this provocative study will bring the story to readers outside Italy.

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the 7th Brazilian Workshop on Agil Methods, WBMA 2016, held in Curitiba, Brazil, in November 2016. The 10 full and 4 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 35 submissions. The papers present empirical results and literature reviews on agile implementation in government and distributed environments, design thinking and projects inception, testing and technical debt, motivation and gamification, training, modeling and project management, maturity models and quality assurance.

The geodynamic evolution of the Mediterranean region has been often described as a puzzling problem' because of the complex space-time distribution of tectonic events. The gathering of new constraining information and frequent changes of data and ideas among the scientists working on this topic seems to be the most suitable approach to the above problem. This volume reports the most significant results of geological, geophysical, seismological, volcanological, paleomagnetic studies and the geodynamic syntheses presented, and discussed. Special attention is devoted to regions, such as the Aegean--Anatolian and central Mediterranean, which played a crucial role in the evolution of the whole Mediterranean area. A considerable improvement in the understanding of the post-Tortonian deformation pattern of the Tyrrhenian--Apennine system has been achieved by recent geological and geophysical investigations. The geodynamic implications of the data presently available might provide important insights into the evolution of continental collision zones, where shortening processes may also involve lateral extrusion of crustal wedges and consumption of continental-like lithosphere. The main uncertainties which still surround the relative motion between Africa and Eurasia in the Mediterranean region are also pointed out. The arguments reported in this volume are mainly addressed to research scientists and advanced students of the earth sciences. (abstract) This volume reports information about the evolutionary history and the present structural-tectonic setting of the Mediterranean region, which has been presented and discussed during a meeting on Recent Evolution and Seismicity of the Mediterranean Region', held in Erice (Italy) in September 1992. Recent results of geological, geophysical, seismological, volcanological and paleomagnetic studies are described. The geodynamic implications of the presently available data set might provide important insights into the evolution of continental collision zones, where shortening processes may also involve lateral extrusion of crustal wedges and consumption of continental-like lithosphere.

A masterly survey of the last 13 years of Very Long Baseline Interferometry, reviewed in light of the most advanced astronomical observations. Topics covered include: Nonthermal emission from extragalactic radio sources; Principles of synchrotron emission in relation to astrophysics; Theory of relativistic jets; Young, powerful radio sources and their evolution; Scintillation in extragalactic radio sources; Radio and optical interferometry; Radio polarimetry; Unified schemes; Deep fields; Tropospheric and ionospheric phase calibration; Supernovae; VLBI for geodesy and geodynamics.

Documentary about the orchestral leader Annunzio Mantovani. Reaching levels of success that had never been seen before, the Venice-born Mantovani became the first artist to sell more than one million albums and went on to achieve worldwide fame with his critically-acclaimed orchestra.

The purpose of this book is to define the basis of telemicrosurgery, a new discipline at the border of robotics and microsurgery. After the history of robotics and microsurgery, the robots and their instrumentation will be described. The chapters will explain the training in telemicrosurgery and then propose some experimental paradigms. The first clinical applications for various specialties will be explored. In closing, potential future applications will be discussed.

In September 2005 an International Meeting on "Targeted Therapies in Cancer: Myth or Reality" was held in Milan. This successful Meeting was intended to represent a forum for scientists and clinicians working in cancer drug discovery and therapy to share their reflections and experiences on how the paradigm shift from empiricism to molecular targeted therapies is contributing to the translation of basic knowledge into new therapies for cancer patients. This book collects the contributions given by scientists and clinicians, from Academia and Industry, who participated to this Meeting.

We hope that this book contributes to improve our approach to cancer drug discovery and, ultimately, to find new, more efficacious and better tolerated drugs for cancer patients. It provides an overview of diverse approaches ranging from drug discovery to cellular therapy. Although this change in paradigm has been useful, its entry into the clinical arena was associates with unforeseen problems including the emergence of resistance, unexpected side effects and failures. Time is therefore ripe for a critical cultural reflection on the state of the art, prospects and limitations. Ultimately, is targeted therapy in cancer a myth or a reality?